L.B. v. R.L.B., 2090149.
| Decision Date | 18 June 2010 |
| Docket Number | 2090149. |
| Citation | 53 So.3d 969 |
| Parties | L.B.v.R.L.B. |
| Court | Alabama Court of Civil Appeals |
53 So.3d 969
L.B.
v.
R.L.B.
2090149.
Court of Civil Appeals of Alabama.
June 18, 2010.
[53 So.3d 970]
Virginia R. Lucci, Montgomery, for appellant.Stanley A. Moorhouse of Battaglia Law Office LLC, Montgomery, for appellee.MOORE, Judge.
L.B. (“the mother”) appeals from a judgment of the Montgomery Juvenile Court (“the juvenile court”) holding her in contempt of previous orders of the juvenile court and otherwise enforcing its previous judgment, which made awards of custody, visitation, and child support with regard to B.A.B. (“the child”) upon the filing of a dependency petition filed by R.L.B. (“the father”). Because we conclude that the juvenile court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction, we dismiss the mother's appeal.
On January 18, 2007, the father, who lived in Louisiana, filed a petition in the juvenile court seeking custody of the child; the father's petition was docketed as case no. JU–07–27.01. The father alleged that the child was dependent because, he said, “[c]ustody, visitation, and child support need to be established” for the child. The father asserted that a paternity case had been initiated in Louisiana and that a child-support case had been initiated in Alabama. Specifically, he stated that he had signed an “Acknowledgment of Paternity” of the child in Louisiana in March 2006, that he had been allowed visitation with the child while the child had lived in Mobile, and that the mother had relocated to Montgomery with the child without notifying him of the move. The father requested that he be awarded physical custody of the child and child support and that the child's last name be changed to the father's last name.
On March 7, 2007, the mother filed an answer to the father's petition and a counterclaim seeking sole legal and physical custody of the child and an award of child support. The mother alleged that the child was born on December 31, 2005, and that the mother and the father had never been married to each other. She stated that a petition for a determination of the child's paternity and for child support was pending in the Montgomery Circuit Court and requested that that case be consolidated with the father's action. The mother asserted that the father had admitted to the paternity of the child in the case pending in the Montgomery Circuit Court and that that court had entered an order making a finding of paternity. The mother asserted that she had provided care for the child and that the child had lived with her since the child was born. She further asserted that the father had failed to visit the child despite an order of a Louisiana District Court allowing the father to have visitation with the child. On July 13, 2007, the mother filed a petition for custody of the child, alleging that the child was dependent because the child's custody was the subject of controversy; as evidence of the child's dependency, however, the mother merely referred to her previously filed answer and counterclaim. The mother's dependency petition was docketed as case no. JU–07–27.02.
[53 So.3d 971]
In May 2008, after ruling on visitation issues and other issues, the juvenile court noted on its case-action-summary sheet that it was “tak[ing] original jurisdiction over custody determination. Order to follow.” On July 17, 2008, the juvenile court entered a purported final judgment in which it, among other things, awarded the parties joint legal custody of the child and awarded the mother primary physical custody. The juvenile court further ordered visitation as mutually agreed upon by the parties or in accordance with a minimum visitation schedule, awarded child support to the mother of $163 per month, and ordered that a new birth certificate be issued for the child listing the father thereon and changing the child's surname to the father's last name. On July 22, 2008, the juvenile court entered a purported amended judgment, which merely changed the date the father's child-support payments were to begin.
On July 28, 2008, the mother filed a motion for a new trial, asserting a number of arguments with regard to the juvenile court's judgment. The juvenile court purported to deny that motion on August 12, 2008; however, the mother's motion had been denied by operation of law on August 11, 2008. See Rule 1(B), Ala. R. Juv. P. Neither party appealed from that judgment.
On July 14, 2009, the mother filed a petition in the juvenile court alleging that the child was dependent because he had been abandoned by the father. That petition was assigned case no. JU–07–27.03. In that petition, the mother alleged that the father did not see the child while the child was in Louisiana and that only the paternal grandmother had exercised visitation with the child. She requested that the juvenile court evaluate the visitation schedule and that the court address the health-insurance needs of the child. The father filed an answer to the mother's petition, denying the allegations therein. He also filed a counterclaim in which he requested primary physical custody of the child. Finally, the father filed a petition for an order of contempt in which he asserted, among other things, that the mother was refusing to permit the father to visit the child.
The juvenile court entered a purported judgment in case no. JU–07–27.03 on October 21, 2009, finding the mother in willful contempt of the prior orders of the court, awarding the father visitation with the child from October 6, 2009, until October 30, 2009, and requiring the parties, following that visitation period, to resume abiding by the provisions of the prior visitation order. The mother filed her notice of appeal to this court on November 4, 2009.
“Although neither party has raised the issue of jurisdiction, ‘[m]atters of jurisdiction are of such importance that a...
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